Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
LUXURY BUSES SERVICE * USA: Complaints - * New Zealand's: Transformeds in mobile art galleries
* California - Luxe transit startup prioritises coffee over disabled access, says complaint
-- Former transit employee says Leap’s bus line violates the law by operating without providing alternatives for people in wheelchairs... A luxury bus line in San Francisco has been accused of removing access for people with disabilities in favor of a coffee bar, according to a complaint filed by former city transit employee Chris Pangilinan, who has used a wheelchair for most of his life... Pangilinan filed his complaint against Leap, a transportation startup, with the Justice Department, alleging that the company violated the Americans With Disabilities Act by operating publicly available vehicles without providing alternatives for people in wheelchairs. He also said he was looking at other companies that appeared not to comply with the law...
(Photograph: Josh Edelson/AFP - Leap luxury buses in San Francisco. A commuter works as he rides one of Leap’s luxury buses in San Francisco) -- San Francisco, CAL, USA - The Guardian, bySam Thielman - 18 April 2015
* Wellington - Buses transformed into mobile art galleries
(Photos by Cameron Burnell/Fairfax NZ - One of the Go Wellington buses that have been transformed into mobile art exhibitions, featuring photographs of architecture and landscapes from across the Wellington region)
-- One of the Go Wellington buses that have been transformed into mobile art exhibitions, featuring photographs of architecture and landscapes from across the Wellington region... Wellington's art scene can be difficult to avoid – especially now it has invaded the city's buses... NZ Bus has teamed up with the Hutt Camera Club to transform two Go Wellington buses into art exhibitions on wheels... Photographs of architecture and landscapes from across the Wellington region will adorn the ceilings of both buses, offering passengers a bit more to look at than just the person playing games on their smartphone next to them... Tonia Haskell, chief operating officer for NZ Bus' southern region, said the Art on Buses initiative was designed to make bus journeys a little brighter and showcase some amazing photographs at the same time... The two mobile art exhibitions hit the capital's streets on Friday... The initiative will run as long as it is popular with passengers. NZ Bus is also open to the idea of expanding it to include other forms of art on buses, such as poetry, Haskell said...
(Photo: The artwork that now adorns some Go Wellington buses)
... Art on the Bus is part of NZ Bus' Better On Bus campaign, which has been running since September... The campaign features characters to cut down on annoying habits like playing loud music, having your feet on the seats, and talking loudly on cellphones...
Wellington, NZ - Stuff / Motoring, by MICHAEL FORBES - April 19 2015Labels: transport public services
BRT BUSES USA * Utah: Electric ones - * Michigan: Wants larger buses
* Utah - UTA shows off electric BRT bus
(Photo: BYD bus driver Ray Munoz knows what a great ride the bus provides. He has driven it up hills in San Francisco and on the flatlands in the Midwest)
-- The world’s only 60-foot, zero-emissions, battery-operated bus came to Utah County on Thursday as part of a two-day test for potential future use by the Utah Transit Authority and Bus Rapid Transit... The bus is manufactured by the BYD Company, based in China, the company is just starting to put its vehicles into service... The prototype bus was built from frame up in Lancaster, Calif., and has been beta tested in the Los Angeles area and throughout the U.S.A. any buses used for BRT or receiving government funding must be built in the United States (of A.). The new Lancaster site provides that option...
(Photo: The lithium battery powered, 60-foot long bus UTA showcased in Orem)
-- The bus holds 120 passengers when full and is completely handicapped accessible, with torque available immediately -- basically, it doesn’t need to build up speed and change gears, and it holds on a hill. The only real noise comes from an intermittent compressor in the back of the bus and the noise of cars passing by... The BYD bus is articulated, which means it bends in the middle to allow for better cornering. It boasts the longest drive range in the industry -- 170 miles on a single charge... Hugh Johnson, UTA regional manager, said the BRT route will have approximately 20 buses, with 16 in motion at any given time. They will most likely be hybrid electric buses in the beginning...
Provo,UH,USA - The Herald Extra - 10 April 2015
* Illinois - Rapid it do so for Laker Line
(Photo 1. The type of bus the Rapid wants to buy for use on its Laker Line)
-- Local officials used “Stand Up for Transportation Day” to try to push for more funding for a bus rapid transit line between Grand Valley State University’s Allendale campus and downtown Grand Rapids’ Medical Mile...
(Photo 2. The type of bus the Rapid wants to buy for use on its Laker Line)
-- The Rapid showed off the 60-foot articulated — or “bendy” — buses they plan to use on the Laker Line. The buses are big enough to carry 80 people, including standing room. Many of the parts for the buses are manufactured in West Michigan... But Laker Line organizers need more cash to make the $45 million project happen... The Rapid says its bus rapid transit that runs the Division Avenue corridor, the Silver Line, has been successful since its launch in August 2014. It says ridership has spiked 40 percent on that route, with nearly a quarter of a million rides between late August and the end of December... Spectrum Health says it has seen an 11 percent increase in ridership since the Silver Line started running, and an 8 percent increase in people who use the line 10 or more times per month...
Grand Rapids, MICH, USA - WOOD/24 Hour News - April 9, 2015Labels: bus rapid transit - BRT, transport public services
* Venezuela - Receives over 250 new Chinese buses
(Photo: AVN - Venezuelan public transport: New China's buses)
-- Venezuela received 258 new buses from China this week, under a series of bilateral deals that have seen Beijing make a slew of major contributions to Venezuelan public transport in recent years... All the new buses were produced by Chinese conglomerate Yutong, and most are slated for use in urban public transport... The delivery is the latest in a series of Chinese contributions to Venezuelan public transport... The first shipment of 350 Yutong buses under the latest bilateral transport agreement arrived in Venezuela in December 2014. In total, Venezuela is expected to receive 1500 buses under the deal. Venezuela has already purchased thousands more buses from the same Chinese company, under what Maduro has labeled a drive to “modernize” his nation's public transport system... Caracas,Venezuela -Telesur TV -24 January 2015Labels: busmakers news China, transport public services
WOMEN ONLY BUSES * USA
* California - Separate buses are not equal
(Image by Rachel Atherly | Daily Trojan)
Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Daily Trojan, by JENNIFER FRAZIN ·January 20, 2015: -- When I tell people that I take public transportation, I am often met with worried stares. After all, urban centers have a pretty bad reputation when it comes to sexual harassment. I’ve bought into the warnings I’ve received about riding at night and having pepper spray on hand. If Los Angeles had introduced a women-only train car, I would’ve spent way more time in the city and much less time on public transportation worried about the length of my skirt... Unfortunately, my fear is far from irrational. In metropolitan cities around the globe, harassment is a serious issue for female commuters. A 2014 Thomas Reuters Foundation poll revealed that 32 percent of women in London have experienced verbal harassment on public transportation. The situation is even worse in Latin American cities, where six out of 10 women have reported physical assault on public transit. Given all this abuse, it is no wonder that many countries — including Japan, Mexico and Brazil — have introduced women-only train cars in an effort to curb the abuse... With all these displays of male privilege making headlines, the fact that women are the main users of public transport in most urban centers comes as quite a surprise. The United Nations Women website explains this phenomenon, pointing out that women and girls are more likely to move through cities in “criss-crosses and zigzags” in order to accomplish their duties as primary caregivers and members of the labor force... Women should not need to adjust their transportation routine to accommodate assailants, and they should not face victim-blaming if they reject available segregated transportation. Society needs to view women-only transit for what it is — a temporary fix, one more “You should have …” when the next victim speaks out..Labels: transport public services, women only buses
TRANSPORT PUBLIC SERVICE * UK: Kids' - Roof top white buses
* England - Kids not catching buses are missing out – they’re a ticket to the real world
(Photograph: StudioCanal/Rex - Reg Varney in On The Buses: ‘The life-enhancing kind [of bus], often the smaller ones, where the driver is helpful, friendly and involved, helping people on and off’)
London,EN,UK -The Guardian, by David Boyle -1 December 2014: ... The Millennium Cohort Study, tracking 13,000 British children born between 2000 and 2002, are striking: apparently, nearly half of 11-year-olds had never been on a bus. One in six also spends more than three hours a day in front of a screen, and the combination of the two – this bus-less, virtual world – was what concerned the Daily Mail... There are actually two kinds of bus. There’s the life-enhancing kind, often the smaller ones, where the driver is helpful, friendly and involved, helping people on and off. I encountered a driver in Sussex last week who stopped the bus and phoned a colleague coming towards him just to help an older lady who had strayed too far the wrong way... The other kind is not life-enhancing, because the drivers are tightly controlled and their managers don’t allow them to do anything like that, so they are effectively mechanical adjuncts to their buses. I wouldn’t wish those on 11-year-olds... (There is also a third kind. The peculiar Boris exhibition buses in central London where there is an under-employed conductor staring out of the window wondering what to do – but that is by the way.)... But the whole implication of the Daily Mail’s report is that children have disappeared into a virtual world, and are losing their grip on reality... Well, I’m not convinced about this, as there is very little evidence one way or another... After all, the acid test of authenticity is whether it is possible to tell the truth to a future president travelling on an omnibus...
* England - Here’s why London’s famous red Bbses have white roofs
(Photographer: Getty Images - London buses seen from atop of St. Paul's Cathedral in the City of London)
London,EN,UK -Bloomberg News, by Alex Morales -Dec 2, 2014: ... Take Transport for London, which manages subways, buses and roads. Climate-proofing is built into its work, according to Helen Woolston, sustainability coordinator at TfL... One example: a program to install white panels atop the capital’s trademark red buses to reflect the rays of the summer sun and keep the vehicles cooler. After 10 years, 98.5 percent of the fleet of 8,700 has white roofs...
* England - 540 more buses in London by 2021 under £500m plan
(Photo - “Network’s backbone”: London buses. They now carry 2.4 billion people a year)
London,EN,UK -London Evening Star, by MATTHEW BEARD -3 December 2014: -- An extra 540 buses will be on the streets of London by the end of the decade as part of a £500 million investment plan announced today to cope with soaring demand... Services will be boosted to carry an extra 2.9 million passengers a week on the fleet of 7,500 vehicles... Buses already carry 2.4 billion passengers a year, but many routes are overcrowded at peak times... There will be more frequent services and some single-deckers will be switched to double... New bus lanes, longer hours for bus lanes, and priority turns will be added under a £200 million “bus priority scheme”. The spending proposals are included in Transport for London’s business plan, covering spending until 2021, which is subject to approval by the board tomorrow...Labels: passengers transport industry, transport public services
PASSENGERS' BUS SERVICE USA * Florida's
* Florida - JTA overhauls bus system
(Photo: David Williams, First Coast News)
Jacksonville,FLA,USA -First Coast News, by David Williams and Roger Weeder -December 3, 2014: -- The Jacksonville Transportation Authority is rolling out changes to its bus and shuttle system... More buses running taking more people to where they need to go. That's the goal driving an overhaul of the Jacksonville Transportation Agency's bus and shuttle system... JTA calls it "Route Optimization"... Launching Dec. 1, it's a complete overhaul of bus and shuttle service -- the first of its kind in 30 years... Labels: passengers transport industry, transport public services
PASSENGERS TRANSPORT INDUSTRY * USA
* Nevada - Buses’ wheels go round and round
(Jason Bean/Las Vegas Review-Journal: Commuting on an RTC Transit bus in Las Vegas on Wednesday, July 16, 2014)
Las Vegas NV,USA -Las Vegas Review-Journal, by y MICHAEL LYLE -July 26, 2014: -- From a few blocks away, riders see Transit Bus 108 coming around the corner on Swenson Street causing them to gather their belongings and stand in anticipation of escaping the 100-plus degree heat... “I thank the dear Lord I’m not walking in this heat,” says one passenger... The doors open... It’s time to ride.... In 2013, an estimated 60 million people traveled on the bus system through the Regional Transportation Commission — it’s the nation’s 17th busiest transit system... Fares range from $2 for a single ride to a 30-day pass at $65, but the stories people might hear from traveling on a Las Vegas bus can be priceless... Whether it’s adding signs and advertisements or adjusting issues on the bus, RTC Assistant General Manager, MJ Maynard, says, the RTC relies on its customers’ feedback... “Three years ago, we decided to take our public feedback to a new level,” Maynard says... Instead of assuming what the customers want, they decided to interact directly with people... “We do a formal survey every year,” she says. “If we make a change, we also try to go out and get people’s opinions by doing informal surveys. We have become more efficient from our feedback” ...
* Massachusets - Bridj brings Uber model to Boston buses
Boston, MASS,USA -The Boston Herald, by Jack Encarnacao -July 28, 2014: -- A new “pop-up” bus service called Bridj is applying for the same license every other Boston bus company holds, while maintaining it doesn’t need one to legally operate — a departure from the regulation-shunning approaches of transportation services like Uber and Haystack... Backed by $3 million in venture capital, Bridj creates temporary bus routes based on an analysis of demand, and partners with licensed coach bus vendors for pickups. Bridj began charging for its service last week after a six-week pilot run and receiving a state Department of Public Utilities charter, CEO Matthew George said... George said Cambridge-based Bridj has only applied for a “jitney license” — basically a permit to transport large groups of people — at the request of Boston officials, including Mayor Martin J. Walsh... According to Bridj’s license application, routes launch from Centre Street in Brookline and unload at 640 Boylston St., 100 Federal St. and 347 Congress St., and 250 Kendall St. in Cambridge. Rates ranges from $1.50 to $10 based on length of trip and time of departure, with capacity for 15 to 54 passengers...Labels: passengers transports industry, transport public services
TRANSPORT PUBLIC SERVICES * South Korea
* S.K. - Seoul to get double-decker buses to ease overcrowding
(Photo from Getty Images: An old Routemaster double-decker bus in London)
Seoul,South Korea -The W.S.J., by Kwanwoo Jun -June 19, 2014: -- The streets of Seoul will likely resemble those of London or Hong Kong next year... South Korea’s transport ministry is planning to introduce double-decker buses in 2015 to alleviate overcrowding for commuters traveling between Seoul and its surrounding suburban areas... The transport ministry confirmed on Wednesday it will introduce a fleet of 20 double-decker buses for commuters making the journey between the capital Seoul and its surrounding Gyeonggi Province and nearby Incheon city in 2015 as a pilot project... Overcrowded commuter buses have become a major safety concern as they travel on high-speed expressways with some passengers standing all the way, the ministry said... The ministry last week announced a plan to add 222 buses—all single-decker— in July to the existing fleet of 1,629 commuter vehicles. The buses carry a total of 110,000 people on weekdays between Seoul and suburban areas...Labels: transport public services
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